Max Verstappen takes 2021 Austrian GP Pole ahead of Norris and Perez

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen takes Pole position for 2021 Austrian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Sergio Perez.

Max took back-to-back Pole in-front of huge Orange Army. But the Championship leader is not happy with his performance in Q3 and he wants to look into the data on where things went wrong. Max said,

“Of course to be twice on pole here is very good, hopefully we can finish it off tomorrow. Softer compounds, it will be tough to manage those in the race, it’s never straightforward so we’ll see.“

Lando Norris misses out his first career Pole position by +0.048 seconds and the Brit said, “I feel epic! Yeah it was cool. Yeah, it’s nice. Probably one of my best laps I’ve done I think.“.

Sergio Perez improves his Qualifying pace as session progress, importantly he puts his Red Bull ahead of Mercedes duo in P4 & P5.

The Mexican said he struggled for balance throughout the weekend and he expects better race car tomorrow, “It’s been a hard weekend, we’ve been chasing a lot the balance. We’ve been chipping away every single run, it didn’t come easy. I believe tomorrow we have a better race car than quali.”

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes hopes of challenging Red Bull and Max for Pole position at their home track fell short again, this time Lewis will start from P4 instead of last week’s P2. And the Brit feels it will hard for them to beat Red Bull on pure pace.

The Seven time World Champion, who signed a two year contract extension with the team before Qualifying session said, “It’s even more of a challenge than it was last week. We tried everything to get more out of the car, it’s just the underlying pace. We’ve got to find performance in the following races. It’s the whole lap. Just got to try and limit the damage.“

Fourth is Hamilton’s worst performance in Q3 at the Red Bull Ring since 2014, while it is the first time Mercedes missed out on a top three spot with either car in dry conditions since the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix.

Pierre Gasly continued his immense qualifying form with sixth – his seventh top six start this season and fifth in a row, with his AlphaTauri team mate Yuki Tsunoda tying his best-ever qualifying performance with seventh.

Birthday boy Sebastian Vettel – 34 today – was the leading Aston Martin in eighth, however he could be in line for a three place grid penalty after blocking Fernando Alonso earlier in Q2.

And it was a sensational day for George Russell as the Briton not only made it into Q3 for the first time in a Williams but he did so on the medium tyre, putting him in a strong position strategically for Sunday’s race.

His sole Q3 lap was impressive, too, putting him ninth – one place ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll – to give Williams their best grid slot since Felipe Massa in the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Eliminated in Q2: Sainz, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Alonso, Giovinazzi

Ferrari duo Sainz and Leclerc will start the race from P11 & P12 unless Vettel’s potential penalty pushes them into top-10. Ferrari sacrificed track position for better race pace by opting to qualify with Medium tyres in Q2.

They have proved during last weekend’s Styrian GP, SF21 is better in race trim. So it’s good gamble to take.

Daniel Ricciardo once again struggled to match his teammate’s pace, the Aussie qualifies in P13 ahead of Alonso in P14 and Antonio Giovinazzi in P15.

Alonso was blocked by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in his final Q2 flying lap. The German immediately apologized for the action, but The Spaniard is angry for missing out in Q2.

Eliminated in Q1: Raikkonen, Ocon, Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin

For the second week in a row at Red Bull ring, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Alpine’s Ocon joins Latifi and Haas duo Mick Schumacher and Mazepin in the Bottom five.

Raikkonen qualifies in P16 ahead of unimpressive Ocon in P17. Williams driver Latifi comes home in P18 ahead of Schumacher in P19 and Mazepin in P20.